Lucia 20 COFA/UNSW Australia This is my online portfolio for the film studies course I'm taking at uni - ARTS2065 (Working with Image and Sound). This blog serves as a space for my ideas, workshop exercises and other musings related to film and/or the course.
My group adapted the ‘typewriter scene’ from Stanley Kubrick’s The Shining (1980). I pitched this scene to the class and was surprised to be chosen. From the beginning I chose not to be the director, but rather the editor, so our group was lucky to have Tina who was well suited to the role. Our group decided that we needed to add some twists to our remake because matching up to Kubrick’s original would be nearly impossible and embarrassing.
We changed our characters Wendy and Jack (Jacquie) to be two female lovers, whose affair is challenged by the existence of Wendy’s husband Danny. Therefore, without changing dialogue or shots, our scene evolved into a conversation/argument between the two lovers who are plotting the murder and removal of Danny. Jack is still the neurotic writer and Wendy, the timid pushover. However Wendy now opens the scene in a dreamy daze as she searches for her lover and reads through her lover’s rambles on the laptop.
In our remake, the moment where Wendy muses over Jack’s writing is set to the non-diegetic music Gymnopédie No.1 by Satie. This use of music is intended to create a piquant and wistful tone, reflecting the love affair between two lovers who can’t be together. The scene transforms when Jack enters and brings tension. Here the music matches the original. The snaps and squeaks of string instruments in discord signify the quarrel between Wendy and Jack, which is exacerbated by the situation of Danny’s inevitable murder. The final sequence at the end depicts Danny’s murder. This scene loosely suggests that Danny has consumed poisonous red wine. Overcome by death, he collapses to the floor.
The main differences in our remake are the relationship between characters and their intentions, which is evident in the speech and blocking of our actors. On the day of filming we had some technical problems, which resulted in the loss of some of our footage. We had to redo these shots but thankfully our actors were cooperative, however we lost time over this and managed to collect some unwanted extras in the background. But since they appear in the scene during the Satie music, it seems to matter less than if they were present for the tense conversation between Wendy and Jack. We had some group disagreements about the use of music but we managed to come to an agreement with two pieces. For this assessment, I had a lot on my plate being one of the few in the group who had video and sound editing software/experience. Thankfully, I really enjoy editing (even sound) and had a supportive team behind me. Overall I’m proud of our remake of such a technically demanding and critically timed scene. I’m glad we decided on our amendments to the scene, and amazed at how the dialogue still works with our twist to the storyline.
We're doing a 5 minute remake of the typewriter/baseball bat scene from Stanley Kubrik's The Shining (1980). I pitched this scene to the class last week.
After today's meeting...
We've decided that since we can't match Kubrik's standards, we should put a twist on our remake (which we discussed with Greg). It's going to be a romantic twist (slightly comical) where the two characters are in fact lusting after one another. As Tina pointed out, when you break down the dialogue it really could work. One positive of this is that we won't need to cast old actors -they can be young and easier to work with (now i'm being ageist).
Anyway we're thinking of maybe filming at COFA in one of the old buildings or library there. We're thinking of using an ipad instead of the typewriter and Wendy will carry an umbrella instead of a baseball bat. The montage sequence with Danny in the middle will be a montage of an extra actor daydreaming (in a near location to our scene) about their own romantic fantasies. These plans obviously sound better with more explanation and these ideas were only formed today, so they're up for changing/improving.
For group roles we've planned that:
Tina is director
Jackson is cinematographer (camera)
Hannah and Jo are both producers
Meghan and I are video/sound editors (sharing roles or picking one each)
Scriptwriting Final Draft Edits: After reading through Cathy’s script doctoring feedback, I made a few subtle changes to my script.
Firstly I added some more character information on Ethan’s character, mainly emphasising that he’s a poor and overworked man. I decided to keep my “double entendre” –the lines “Just tell me where you’ll be”… “Eternity”- because I like it and it references the Bob Dylan song from which I drew some influences. Secondly I extended the Edward’s Ranch scene to include a stronger connection between Ethan and Martha, to suggest their love for each other. Finally I swapped around the order of imagery in the dream sequence because I thought that was a great suggestion.
I know that Cathy said she would be unhappy as a movie-viewer with this ending, but then I thought maybe she just doesn’t like films with open endings. I like that my story is quite ambiguous. We don’t know what Ethan really feels and that’s what makes him such a complex character. Also because I’ve decided to tackle writing a ‘prequel’ which Cathy finds problematic, the ending I’ve provided sort of leads into The Searchers but still leaves room for this short story to exist in it’s own entirety. But I took out the ‘To Be Continued’. So the audience doesn’t have to watch The Searchers next or even at all to understand my film but if they do it will hopefully compliment it.
LOGLINE: Ethan, a troubled man led by temptation, goes astray and deserts his place at home, committing a wrongdoing for the Confederate Army during the Civil War.
SYNOPSIS: This short film serves as a prequel to John Ford’s masterpiece The Searchers (1956). The story explores the foggy past of Ethan Edwards, and the choices he makes leading to his eventual wrongdoing during the Civil War. Beginning with temptation and ending with regret eight years later, where The Searchers takes off, Ethan becomes a battered man on horseback with a pocket full of gold coins, and a Mexican revolutionary war medal.
TREATMENT: This short film ‘Ride Away’ is intended as a prequel to John Ford’s classic Western film The Searchers (1956). This is my interpretation of the tale behind the troubled main character Ethan Edwards. Since The Searchers beginsat the end of the American Civil War, ‘Ride Away’ explores some of the key moments in Ethan’s life before and during the war. What happens to Ethan before The Searchers?
The derived story is loosely based on the biblical tale of Judas and ‘The Field of Blood’, and also Bob Dylan’s 1967 spoken ballad ‘The Ballad of Frankie Lee and Judas Priest’. Like these two texts, ‘Ride Away’ explores the ideas of temptation, greed and wrongdoing.
The setting and style is intended to closely fit to that of John Ford’s film The Searchers. My story remains in the Western film genre, like Fords. The story situates itself in the Staked Plain region of Texas during the 1860s. This is close to the border of America and Mexico. It uses the same home setting from The Searchers of The Edwards Ranch, and surrounding landscape. This story has three main setting locations: Borden Saloon in the centre of town, The Edwards Ranch, and the swamp with surrounding plains country.
The story begins in 1860 with troubled Ethan. Poor and unfitting in society, he tries his luck gambling at the local saloon. Upon losing, he meets the STRANGER – an elder elitist statesmen who is clearly not a local. This man stands for power and wealth. His true interests lie in the Westward expansion of America, including stealing land from Mexico. His desire for the Mexican’s land motivates him to offer Ethan the ultimate temptation – gold in exchange for murder! This story element is based on the historical events of 1861 in Vera Cruz, when the Confederate States of America sent troops to invade Mexico in a bid to take the land.
The next scene in ‘Ride Away’ sees Ethan leaving for duty, having accepted the STRANGER’s offer. He sold himself short and gave in to temptation. This scene introduces the love affair between Ethan and Martha, his brother’s wife. It also introduces a suggestion of Martha’s pregnancy being caused by Ethan. This affair is one noted interpretation by film critics of The Searchers.
The next scene is a flash forward to the same context as the opening of The Searchers – Texas, 1868. This scene introduces the aged and battered Ethan returning from Mexico with his prize-money, his Mexican war medal and his nightmarish episodes of sleep. By this point, he is a broken man with a dirty past, stuck for eternity with the guilt of leaving the homestead, leaving his love, and now with blood on his hands. This ties back to the quoted line by the STRANGER in the opening scene of the story – “Eternity”. This line is taken from Bob Dylan’s ‘Ballad of Frankie Lee and Judas Priest’, which warns the consequences of gambling on the mortal soul of a man.
In treating this film for production, it is stylistically a Western film set in Civil War time. There are three characters in this screenplay that feature in The Searchers. They are Ethan, Aaron and Martha Edwards. The casting could be loosely based on the actors used in the original, but not strictly, since they are younger versions, except for Ethan in the final scene. The important focus for characterisation is that their performance and costuming is suitable to the context – Texas 1860s.
The non-diegetic music elements are drawn from the theme song of The Searchers, ‘What Makes a Man to Wander’ by The Sons of the Pioneers. The lyrics to this song are the closing point to my short film, which question the choices of a man to leave home and “Ride Away”.
Adaptation: Goldilocks and the Three Bears Treatment
This story is set in Sydney. Goldi is 18. She heads out for a night on the town, young and inexperienced. She finds herself on Oxford Street. She enters a bar - The Cottage. Inside, she passes a velvet rope into the VIP section in the back, unknowingly. Tired and thirsty from her late night trawl, she is drawn to three unattended drinks by the bar. She sits down. The first stool is too tall, the second stool is wobbly but the third stool is just right! She drinks. The first drink is a shot of Whiskey -too harsh! The second drink is a Skittle Bomb cocktail -too sweet! The third drink is sangria -just right! THUMP! She passes out on the bar. The three gay 'bears' come back to their drinks, fresh from the dance floor. Eeeek!
In class treatment for our own adaptation of the classic story of Goldilocks and the Three Bears. This would be fun to film.
LOGLINE: Ethan, a troubled man led by temptation, goes astray and deserts his place at home, committing a wrongdoing for the Confederate Army during the Civil War.
SYNOPSIS: This short film serves as a prequel to John Ford’s masterpiece The Searchers (1956). The story explores the foggy past of Ethan Edwards, and the choices he makes leading to his eventual wrongdoing during the Civil War. Beginning with temptation and ending with regret eight years later, where The Searchers takes off, Ethan becomes a battered man on horseback with a pocket full of gold coins, and a Mexican revolutionary war medal.
origamiaround
snowghoul
germansingergirl
